Project Eternity - Update #28

October 24th, 2012, 18:21

Josh Sawyer brings us update 28 of Project Eternity.

Thanks to you, we're funded. Now the work begins. At this stage of the project, we are still in pre-production, so at Wednesday morning's team meeting we started talking about the passion-stirring topic of logistics. Before we start scripting quests and writing dialogues, we need to understand the full scope of what we're setting out to do. In some ways, the basics stay the same for us as they did a decade ago. But we have new problems to solve and we need to have them all worked out before we enter production.
The key elements we have been focusing on are:

The size and str ucture of the world - This game will be… large. And it will have two big cities, exploration areas, and a 15-level mega-dungeon. Ensuring that the world is planned properly requires examination of what has worked for us in the past and what hasn't. The original Baldur's Gate had a number of wilderness areas, but low density of content in many of those areas. Baldur's Gate II had much greater content density, but fewer wilderness/pure exploration areas. We'd like to make sure we have pure exploration areas while still maintaining good content density.

Dynamic environment integration - Animated objects, interactive objects, ambient visual effects, water, dynamic lights and shadows — all of these elements can be featured even within a "2D" world. Our goal is to strike a good balance between visual fidelity, performance (including memory on disk), and the amount of time environment artists have to spend setting up their areas. We prefer dynamic sol utions that are relatively easy to author, as we want our environment artists to maximize their efficiency.

Lore and story - What we've developed so far has been the result of a small number of impromptu discussions and high-level efforts. Last week, we (including George — thanks!) had our first meeting to increase development of the setting and story. We discussed major themes we'd like to explore, the order in which we'd each like to develop aspects of the lore and characters, and what elements we each were having trouble wrapping our heads around. Our immediate focus is on the central conflict of the story and the various factions that have a stake in it.

As the song goes, we've only just begun, but the team is excited and determined to make a game that lives up to your, and our, expectations. You've put a huge amount of trust in us, and we want to repay you with the best RPG we can.
Next week, we'll be talking about system desi gn and how we're approaching mechanics like class design, advancement, and the role of equipment. We're also working on fulfillment of some of the Kickstarter pledges and we'll have more info on that in the next few weeks. Finally, if you missed our D&D session from last week, we have it up on the YouTubes for your enjoyment!

The original Baldur's Gate had a number of wilderness areas, but low density of content in many of those areas. Baldur's Gate II had much greater content density, but fewer wilderness/pure exploration areas. We'd like to make sure we have pure exploration areas while still maintaining good content density.

lol, just make the damn game already! Ok, I'm not one who gave money to them (I will buy it when it is done) but do they really need to go into this level of detail every time they do something while they develop the game?

Originally Posted by Arkadia7
… but do they really need to go into this level of detail every time they do something while they develop the game?

This confirms the common notion that people will in fact complain about anything and everything even if they would get a free life time supply of beer, hookers and blow .

Seriously, what the hell is wrong with them sharing their detailed thoughts on the game's design when the whole making and designing of the game has only been made possible by the very people they are addressing these updates to? One could almost say that it is not just their prerogative but their damned obligation to keep their investors well informed and up to date. So where exactly is the issue here? I don't get it…